Or its somewhat differently tear-jerking Horde equivalent. As opposed to freeing a lost loved one you take the wedding pendant of a dead man who had devoted his life to destroying the Forsaken back to his grave on the request of his now Forsaken wife, who wants nothing to do with him. Upon reaching his grave your greeted by a sad little bit of text detailing how lonely the grave looks and how the man will be forever forgotten.

The Horde quest in Durotar where an orc woman asks you to find her son, who is apparently out hunting crocolisks after the two argue over whether or not it's safe. After cutting open a gator in the river, you find something of his in its belly. It's sad watching her reaction to the news. She then gives you a blanket (or cape) that she had just finished for her son. (In a bit of good judgment on Blizzard's part, they never reveal exactly how old her son was.)

This quest received a continuation in Cataclysm, in which you gather crocolisk teeth to create a memorial necklace for her son.

The Shady Rest Inn quest chain is especially a Tear Jerker. You find out that not only was the Shady Rest Inn destroyed, but the child and the wife of the innkeeper was killed during the burning; while, the innkeeper escaped, but became mentally unstable because of it. Luckily, you find out who did it, the Grimtotem tauren, and get much needed revenge.

It becomes a real Tear Jerker during the final quest in the chain, Peace at Last, where you go place a wreath at the grave of the mother and child. You can read the script here. Especially, the kid saying "Mommy, when will we see Daddy again?"

The quest line for "Rewriting The Battle of Darrowshire". It starts when you encounter the ghost of a little girl, Pamela Redpath, who asks you to find her dolly for her. As the quest progresses, she starts to ask about her daddy, she misses him so much. You start to find living relatives throughout the world who fill you in on her story, and that of her father, Joseph. Joseph Redpath was one of the last defenders of Darrowshire against the Scourge. He succumbed and was corrupted by the Scourge, then proceeded to murder the other defenders, leaving him forever known as the traitor of the Battle of Darrowshire. After a number of other quests, and the help of the Bronze Dragonflight, you are able to relive the Battle for Darrowshire and have the opportunity to defend the town with Joseph and the other defenders. Joseph is still defeated and corrupted, but because of your presence, you are able to redeem him; you are told that, while you could not save him, history has been changed to remember him as the fallen hero of Darrowshire. At the end of the quest, the ghosts of Joseph and Pamela are reunited, and embrace, and Pamela tells you that she is so happy to see her daddy again.This video will make you cry if you know the full back-story.

Also if you talk to Pamela before your quest with her is finished, she'll give you one of the saddest lines in the game. "I never feel warm anymore..."

If you wander around the Culling of Stratholme wing of the Caverns of Time, the Redpaths are all staying at the inn... Pamela even has her doll.

Even without having played through the quest, this fan-made video will make you tear up. If you have played through the quest you will bawl like a baby.

Tirion Fordring's questline in Western Plaguelands. It starts as you just helping some crazy old ex-paladin gather food. Then he tells you about why he's an ex-paladin. And then when you finally succeed in bringing together everything needed to turn his son away from the dark path of the Scarlet Crusade, you're treated to an epic march out of Crusade territory with an elite mob escorting you as he beats the hell out of his former Crusade-mates. Unfortunately, this whole moment of badass is cut short When the Crusade's big guns show up, and ONESHOT him before Tirion can reach him. Cue Tirion arriving, beating the hell out of every scarlet in the area and then breaking into a massive BSOD over the death of his beloved son. The fact the whole quest is named "In Dreams", referencing the Orbison song about having what you really want only coming in your dreams in reference to the fact he'll never see his son again just makes it that much more of a totally depressing scene. Try not to cry as you realize after all Tirion's work to save his baby boy, all he got was the death of his beloved son.. On the upshot this does set up his character development as the new leader of a reformed Silver Hand who becomes very important in Northrend...but still.

Then there's the quest "Of Love and Family" in Stratholme's Main Gate instance, which tasks you with finding the painting that has that title, which is said to be of great importance to Tirion. It turns out to be of Tirion's own family, which is quite sad when you consider how things turned out.

"The picture brings a smile to your face."

The Burning Crusade

The end of the instance Escape from Durnholde has one when the bronze dragon tells you how history is back on its normal path, and how Thrall will now fulfill his destiny to become Warchief, then turns to Taretha's (Thrall's foster sister) fate: "As for Taretha...her fate is regrettably unavoidable." She's killed by the Lord of Durnholde as revenge for helping Thrall escape.

Another one that many might not think too much about, this one found in the very first portion of the draenei starting zone. One of the player's first quests here is to locate an injured survivor of the Exodar crash and use their Gift of the Naaru racial ability to heal that survivor. Since the survivors are also mildly irradiated and are therefore surrounded by a faint puff of reddish smoke, they aren't hard to spot, and since none of the creatures in this area are hostile, there's no need to fend anything off while you're healing the survivor. Add to that: The ability has a three minute recharge and can be used even after the quest has been completed, so if they're so inclined, the player can heal as many survivors as they want... to a point. Throughout the remainder of the quests completed in the first area, the player will encounter numerous injured draenei, some of them visible from a distance, some making themselves known by moaning in pain and begging for help for somewhere beyond the player's field of vision. No problem; the player can just heal them, right? Oh... except they already healed another one two minutes ago, and the Gift of the Naaru hasn't fully recharged. With no first aid trainers or flight masters in the first area, the player character can only hope to have bandages if another character on the same server has mailed them some. On top of that, the injured draenei who are healed will sometimes say things like "I would have died if it weren't for you!" while the injured who haven't been helped yet say cheerful things like "Please... make it stop..." and "I don't know if I can hold on any longer..."

Wrath of the Lich King

In amongst all the mass murder, torture and other metaphorical dog-kicking, the opening quest chain for Death Knights has one desperately sad moment: your character is sent into a nearby jail to execute the prisoner of the same race as them. The prisoner recognises you ("I'd know that face anywhere... You don't remember me, do you? What have they done to you, <name>?") and begs you to remember the hero you once were before you strike them down. *sniff*

The night elf version of this quest is particularly adept at playing your heartstrings. The female night elf NPC you're supposed to killactually took care of your character while they were still an infant. They even say that your character was their "little angel". This is just as horrible as Self-Made Orphan.

Yazmina Oakenthorn: You don't remember me? When you were a child your mother would leave you in my care while she served at the Temple of the Moon. I held you in my arms and fed you with honey and sheep's milk to calm you until she would return. You were my little angel. Blasted Scourge... What have they done to you, <name>?

The dwarf version had your target yelled their Battle Cry for the last time before letting you to kill him:

Donovan Pulfrost: There... There's no more time for me. I'm done for. Finish me off, <name>. Do it or they'll kill us both <name>... For KHAAAAAAAAZZZ MODAAAAAANNNNNN!!!

The Goblin version to kill Gally Lumpstain is just as bad.

Gally: You don't remember me, <name>? I lost count of the number of jobs you and I ran back in the day on Kezan. Then I picked up a real bad Kaja'Cola habit and you saved me! It was you who took me to Kalimdor to join the Steamwheedle Cartel. You were the only good goblin I knew. That's how I ended up in the Argent Dawn, because I knew it's what you woulda done. How could this have happened to you? Remember the goblin you once were, <brother/sister>! You were my best friend!"

The Orc version is pretty bad as well, considering their long history of enslavement by the demons:

Kug Ironjaw: Think, <name>. Think back. Try and remember Durotar, <brother/sister>! Remember the sacrifices our heroes made so that we could be free of the blood curse. Harken back to the Valley of Trials, where we were reborn into a world without demonic influence. We found the splendor of life, <name>. Together! This isn't you. You were a champion of the Horde once!

So is Worgen version:

Lord Harford: You don't remember me? We were both servants of Arugal back in Silverpine Forest. We put up with his merciless torture for ages. It was you who saved me on that fateful night when we escaped Shadowfang Keep. Without you I would have died. YOU! The most noble worgen I ever knew. What have they done to you, <name>? How could this have happened?

Antoine Brack: You don't remember me, do you? We were humans once - long, long ago - until Lordaeron fell to the Scourge. Your transformation to a Scourge zombie came shortly after my own. Not long after that, our minds were freed by the Dark Lady. A pact was made, <brother/sister>! We vowed vengeance against the Lich King! For what he had done to us! We battled the Scourge as Forsaken, pushing them back into the plaguelands and freeing Tirisfal! You and I were champions of the Forsaken! Listen to me, <name>. You must fight against the Lich King's control. He is a monster that wants to see this world - our world - in ruin. Don't let him use you to accomplish his goals AGAIN. You were once a hero and you can be again. Fight, damn you! Fight his control!

Crusader Bridenbrad's quest line, which is one big metaphor for cancer (the dev who worked on the quest made it as a memorial to a friend who passed away from cancer), you try all sorts of methods, some painful, to cure a stubborn and fatal disease, and in the end, you fail, your only solace the hope that they're no longer suffering on the other side.

Thesetwo quests (one for each faction) are probably the most depressing in the game, mostly because the player just killed the letter writer.

Even worse, the two family members the letters are addressed to are actual NPCs: the Alliance one you see every time you come off the ramp from the mage tower, and the Horde one is one of the female troll mage trainers in the Valley of Spirits, and the Horde one at least does remember (once it's delivered).Te

In an additional punch for Horde players, Overlord Agmar's condescendingly mocking reaction to the sentimentality highlights just why High Overlord Saurfang had to pass you a letter in secret through the NPC Torvus, and why he had such hopes for his son... because Garrosh was already having a negative influence on Horde forces in Northrend, and your earlier exploits which were a prerequisite for Torvus' quest helped amplify it by raising Garrosh's prestige.

In the final scenes of Wrath of the Lich King, you face off against a fallen hero: Dranosh Saurfang. After defeating the Horde warrior, you're treated to his father coming to collect the body of his only child. Not even Varian Wrynn can bring himself to make war against the Horde at this point.

Even as Horde, the Tear Jerker quality does not let up. At the intro to the boss fight, you are treated to this line:

" My boy died at the Wrath Gate. I am here only to collect his body.

"The Mosswalker Savior" takes place near the end of a chain of mostly light-hearted quests involving two feuding tribes of creatures in Northrend. You are sent to a remote village to chastise members of one of the tribes for not coming to worship at the shrine, when you see the village burning in ruins at the hands of the Scourge, as the tribespeople are being hacked apart, dragged half-alive by chains, and being lit on fire. Your job is to save them. Most of them are already too far gone, and say things like "We not do anything... to them... I no understand," and "I do something bad? I sorry..." before dying. As you come to the realization that the Mosswalkers are a mostly peaceful people who had no idea what the Scourge even was, you can do little but watch them die in ruins and hope that there are a few left alive enough to save. Your companion grimly explains, "It's a small comfort to see that they haven't brought any back in undeath."

Two phrases to sum up the fall of the Drakkari empire: "If our gods can die... then so can we...." and "Even the mighty... can fall."

The Wrathgate cutscene. Wow... It goes from a Moment of Awesome to this. Highlord Bolvar Fordragon marches out, charges into the swarm of undead headfirst, and fights them off. Then come the vrykul, half-giant humanoids of Northrend who seem to be unstoppable. At the last minute, however, aurfang the Younger himself rides down and one-shots three vrykul after having witty banter with Fordragon. Pretty awesome, right? Except when Grand Apothecary Putress unleashes the Forsaken Blight on the Scourge... and Alliance... and Horde. Fordragon's last view is of red dragons coming to burn the bodies.

Finally, the king of kings of Tear Jerker in the game is the Lich King's demise. First part shows Arthas' Death Equals Redemption as he died in his father's arms. And when you thought it was all... Bolvar Fordragon's Heroic Sacrifice as he took the responsibility of taking the Lich King's place, and sealing him forever while saying he must not be remembered.

I must be forgotten, Tirion! If the world is to live free from the tyranny of fear, they must never know what was done here today. Tell them only that the Lich King is dead. And that Bolvar Fordragon died with him. Now... go! Leave this place! And never return!!

Then he gets an epic monument in the middle of Dalaran. Clicking it plays you the Fall of the Lich King video. Facepalm.

Well, to be fair they're probably just remembering him as he was when he was alive, not...well...

First, the monument is to Tirion Fordring and "those who gave their lives in the war." Bolvar is still assumed to be dead. Second, only the player characters and Tirion know what really happened. Most NPCs who see the monument will only notice a sign. So, it's kind of justified.

What was the point? We didn't gain anything. He gave everything as both﻿ Arthas and the Lich King to both kingdoms and lost everything just the same. We didn't bring anyone he killed back, nor justified any that survived. We didn't beat an enemy or conquer a tyrant: We lost a hero. Twice. There was no victory here.

Maybe the fact that he was conducting a war worse than genocide against the world (as he not only wanted to kill everyone but raise them in undeath) qualifies him as an "enemy".

You forget Arthas lost his soul to Frostmourne and became a Death Knight by a gambit, he lost himself a long time ago and yet still kept his memories of Jaina and ended up dying as himself. Yes he was an enemy but in more of the Tragic Villain sense considering that he started as just a simple paladin with good intentions and ended up losing sight of all that over time.

Even the main theme of the expansion O Thanagor (Oh, King) is depressing. The variation used during the ending cinematic Invincible is incredibly powerful. Blizzard additionally had this to say regarding the song:

"An ode to one who has fallen. Time and events have left it unclear whether the song refers to the former prince of Lordaeron or his beloved steed."

Even the lyrics, when translated from Common are pretty melancholic.

Comilito equinus* 'O steed, (my) stalwart companionOrbitas lacuna* I mourn your lossG'Odhun A'l Korok Boda Uh'm* Even in death, (you were the) first in battle,Boda Uh'm Ron'Kashal* (And the) last to retreat, even so in deathDetrimentum a do sola ditas.* Alas, I have lost a part of myself.

An Karanir Thanagor* Long live the kingMor Ok Angalor* May his reign last foreverMor Ok Gorum...* May his strength...Pala Uh'm Ravali Ah'm.* Fail him never.

The Culling of Stratholme. Even more of a gut punch than it was in Warcraft 3, it's not the purging, but what you can see before Arthas starts moving. Many tragic figures from the Plaguelands are there, all just living their lives normally, most notably the Redpath family, and knowing what they go through, it's kind of depressing to talk to them and have them respond so normally.

D.E.H.T.A's questline in Northerend is capable of wringing tears by having you to free elephant babies from painful traps and prevent poachers from killing baby deer, but Blizzard really manages to shake those players who have been paying attention to the in-game lore with one of the final quests. The druids will send you on a quest to murder Harold Lane who oversees the hunter's camp. Many of the players don't probably remember him by the time you receive the quest, but he's one of the hunters you hunt with in Nagrand, namely the wounded man who is delirious from infection, his condition growing worse with every quest, and prior of coming to Northrend, the player is left not knowing whether he'll pull through or die due to his injuries. Think about it; he survives dreadful wounds and a painful infection, just to be murdered by the same player who was there to help him and sit through his fever-induced delirium, just because a group of fanatic, self-righteous druids said so.

Actually, Harold Lane was faking it — or at least playing it up — the entire time. It becomes quite obvious that he was simply playing up his injury out of laziness. If you sit around him long enough, he starts playing little emotes like "Harold Lane begins to whistle a tune, but then stops abruptly and moans.". While there is no denying that DEHTA are an Animal Wrongs Group, Harold Lane is not nearly as innocent as he seems.

Tirion Fordring and Darion Mograine are both walking tearjerkers. Tirion had to watch his wife and son die without being able to do anything, was exiled by the people he vowed to protect because he wasn't a xenophobic jerkass, then came back to help the very people who exiled him, without getting so much as a 'hey, dude, sorry about that exile/dead family stuff! We cool?'. Darion watched his father and brother be corrupted, eventually killed, and his father's soul sucked into an evil sword. He then killed himself to free his father's soul, but was later betrayed by the person he served and his father's soul was taken AGAIN! His father's soul only gets freed if you manage to get a very rare drop from a very hard boss. Oh gods, Darion and Tirion are just walking tearjerkers. They do both display some side effects of this, though. Both are pretty huge jerks once their part in the story is done.

In Icecrown Citadel, the first two blood princes have a loyal utterance "My queen, they come..." gurgling and dying as death quotes. Valanar?

Valanar: ...Why...?

At first many thought the Scarlet Crusade were entirely militant, but in the Death Knight starting zone, you find out the Scarlet Crusade holds actual citizens... and as a Death Knight you kill every last one.

To make matters worse? While this is the Scarlet Crusade were talking about a good chunk of the people that die in that area are defenseless civilians that are running for their lives as the Scourge tears them and the soldiers trying to defend them apart. This isn't even getting to the fact that you kill innocent miners and farmers that were likely just doing their jobs and the fact that there was likely children amongst the civilians being impaled by arrows, torn apart and eaten by ghouls and geists, and slaughtered by Death Knights of all kinds.

The "Fall of The Lich King" trailer. Despite everything thathe has done, you will probably shed Manly Tears again for Arthas' demise, as he seemingly remember who he was and regrets all the atrocities he had brought in his final momments. This is doubled with Bolvar's Heroic Sacrifice in the same cutscene.

The scene is made especially poignant by the fact that it's the spirit of his father—one of the first people he murdered after losing his soul to Frostmourne—that comforts him.

Arthas gets one in Wrath of the Lich King. He lies broken and sees his father's ghost. His father tells him that his reign is over and the "no king rules forever." Arthas finally realizes the folly of his actions and dies, but not before giving some gut wrenching final words. "I See... Only Darkness... Before Me." After all that evil and cruelty he dies broken and alone. Manages to actually make you feel sorry for him.

Made even worse with the revelation that Arthas' good side was still part of him all along fighting back his evil side. After enduring years of this torment he still dies alone and hated by every living being in the world with no further chance at redemption.

And the final nail in this coffin is what happens after. Sylvanas finds Arthas's spirit, a small boy, trapped in a void of endless torment, the end he ended up digging himself into after years of service and reign as the Lich King.

Basically ALL of the followup quests from The Unsealed Chest. If you defeated The Lich King while someone had Shadowmourne equipped, an extra special box would drop with an item in it, an item belonging to someone the Lich King affected heavily. Every bit of dialogue afterwards tugs at the heartstrings, despite all the bastardly things he did, most are about how close friends still choose to remember him for the good person he was in life. But there are two other items from major people in his storyline. Describing them doesn't really do them justice, so listen to them here, at around the 5:58 Mark To wit:

Blood of Sylvanas. Sylvanas is relieved that the Lich King is finally dead. Yet she wonders how many people are freed of his grasp, but still unable to control their body. She shoos the player away to brood.

Badge of the Silver Hand. Uther talks about the many, many, burdens his soul carried from his failure to keep Arthas in check. Yet, there is one memory that he will choose to keep about him. The dedication and hope to defend his kingdom when he was young, no matter what the cost. He thanks the player and leaves

Arthas' Training Sword. Muradin recalls the many days Arthas trained with this dull sword, to become a capable warrior. He then laments how things could have been different and avoided if he had never chose to look for Frostmourne. Sadly, he says goodbye to Arthas.

Jaina's Locket. Jaina is shocked to learn that after all these years, after all the horrible things he had done, Arthas had kept the locket Jaina gave to him. She believes that there was still some light in Arthas, despite all he did, and hopes that he finds peace in the next life.

Alexandros' Soulshard. Alexandros appears before Mograine one last time. Mograine is understandably happy that his father's soul is alright, yet wonders how he kept his sanity. How did his dear father keep it? He held onto one memory, one special moment. The day Mograine sacrificed himself to save his father from a possibly even longer period of torment.

Cataclysm

One of the new quests for Cataclysm has you watching in a vision Edwin VanCleef get killed by a 5-man group of various Alliance characters. Once the group leaves, a little girl comes out and stops over his body. The only thing you catch before the vision ends is her muttering the word "...Daddy?". If you completed the Deadmines before Cataclysm as Alliance, then this a rather big Player Punch, because it is YOUR FAULT!

It doesn't help that the 'quest item' you brought in to get your reward was his head. Yes, she does include his decapitation in her later rant.

Continuing in Cataclysm Westfall: You report the existence of the girl to Stoutmantle, and you're ready to take action, but then all the allied NPCs are instantaneously sapped. Right after that, Vanessa VanCleef reveals herself and orders her men to burn down the newly refurbished Sentinel Hill. All you can do at this point is flee to Stormwind and inform King Varian of these events. The clincher comes when you return. Upon landing the sky is dark and red and all of Sentinel Hill is in flames, with the guards doing their best to fend off the New Defias Brotherhood, while Stoutmantle just looks on in rage and sorrow.

Stoutmantle: Five years of work burned to the ground in five minutes. Damn the Defias!

When confronted about killing the Furlbrows and Ol' Blanchy in Westfall:

Vanessa VanCleef: I had no choice, lieutenant. They recognized me. The only people in the world who even knew I existed, recognized my face from when I was an infant. I took no pleasure in their deaths.

The tauren in Cataclysm in general. Upon starting a new tauren character, you find out that Cairne is dead, and the Grimtotem, quilboar, and several other enemy forces are closing in on Mulgore. Once you take control of your character, you discover that Greatmother Hawkwind (the nice old lady who used to welcome new tauren players into the world) was murdered by the quilboar, and you later attend her funeral service. If all that isn't bad enough, the Alliance has raided and destroyed Camp Taurajo in the Barrens, leaving what few survivors there utterly traumatized. Even the musicseems to suggestthe taurenare fighting a losing battle.

Many of the quests in post-Cataclysm Darkshore are pretty depressing (particularly if you leveled in the area before the Cataclysm), but the Last Wave of Survivors questline takes the cake. You have to wander down the beach to find survivors from Auberdine...and you find the bodies of several familiar NPCs. You can interact with them, and often, it turns out they were *just* dying. And two of the survivors you do rescue don't survive for long.

The only one who survives is Cerellean Whiteclaw, poor guy can't seem to catch a break. What he says during his quest:

"I somehow avoided being inflicted with the same toxin that the other survivors now endure. I cannot help but be envious of them to a degree though... living an eternity alone seems not worth living at all. I miss you so much, Anaya."

One of the worst of these may be the flightmaster, who, because of Auberdine's (now former) position as a critical route from Kalimdor directly to Stormwind, you've definitely spoken to, and her hippogryphs, which you've definitely ridden.

Then there's Volcor and Grimclaw, a hunter and his pet bear, whom you probably helped reunite in old Darkshore when Volcor got kidnapped. You rescue Volcor, but Grimclaw is nowhere to be found. You go on a quest chain to find Grimclaw, who has been injured but is being helped by a Keeper of the Grove. While you're off doing a favor for the Keeper, Grimclaw, fully recovered, runs straight for Lor'danel to see Volcor... who died from his injuries while you were away. But they at least got to say goodbye to each other.

Some of the statuses of the playable races seem to be partially in ruins. The tauren and human conditions were mentioned above and the gnomes and trolls have actually gotten better off, but the night elf condition can be a little bad. The nature-loving (and preserving) night elves are now at odds with the goblins, who seem to exist solely to destroy nature. Their lands of Ashenvale and Azshara are getting destroyed by the Horde and they've been reduced to "shit to kill" for goblin quests in the latter. Playing on the Horde and essentially kicking them out of their own land for money can make you feel like a bit of a bastard. However, before you're willing to say the goblins are evil for this, a goblin quest in Felwood mentions that if they don't do this work, the Horde may kick them out on their ass and implies that this happening would pretty much ruin Goblin society. So sacrifice goblin society for night elf society or vice versa? Also the dwarves have lost their leader, and since the heir is only a baby, a council is formed. While the alliance of the Dark Irons to the other dwarf factions is tentative at best, there are villainous Dark Irons, still aligned with the Twilight Hammer, specifically trying to make this worse and pry the leadership of the Dark Irons from said baby. His mother doesn't even seem sad, as much as she does exhausted with this.

One wouldn't particularly feel bad for Winna Hazzard in Felwood before the Cataclysm. But then she went insane with her slime experiments, unintentionally corrupted all but one of the inhabitants of Bloodvenom Post into slime creatures, and is an endless fount of the slime. Of course death is the only quick fix, but how do you do it? Kill her after snapping her out of her state by showing her the I.D. tag that belonged to the fully-grown mutated kitten of hers that you killed.

The Alliance's razing of Camp Taurajo. Using the funerary totems to send the tauren who couldn't escape their wrath into the afterlife, you get to see their final moments. The Tailoring vendor wonders why the Alliance would do such a thing while pleading the others to take the children and run; The Skinning trainer was futilely fighting off Alliance while using only a skinning knife; and even the Flight Master told everyone to run while he and his wyverns provided the cover and distraction needed for the others to escape. Like Auberdine to night elves, a lot of tauren players passed through to Camp Taurajo before the zeppelins to Orgrimmar were introduced... and now it's filled with looters.

The Alliance version of events surrounding Taurajo at least has the Alliance general telling players to arrest the looters, who he declares were conscripted criminals from the Stormwind Stockade, and claim that he'd deliberately left a gap by which the refugees could escape... small comfort to the refugees though, not least because that gap was in the direction of quillboar territory. Worse yet, Alliance players intercepted news of a death warrant on the general's head... and an Alliance "ambassador" who thought said general sat on said news, allowing for the Horde players' success in assassinating the general, whose successor died in the Horde attack on Bael Modan.

You probably don't feel sorry for the murlocs in Blasted Lands. You've probably been gang-murdered by them plenty of times before reaching this place. But then you'll reach the newly opened coast to find that they've all been enslaved by the naga. Even then you'll probably be a little apathetic about their plight. And then you'll notice that a lot of the enslaved murlocs are just babies. And there are three or four baby murlocs carrying one box.

What makes it worse is that despite killing said naga, defiling their idols, and basically ripping them apart left and right...you can't save the murlocs. The line of doomed, marching murlocs keeps going on, and on, and on....

Want it worse? If you wander around the cave the nagas have in the zone, you can see three baby murlocs left abandoned over a box, scared and left to die. You cannot see a yellow exclamation, but from the box you can get the quest to drag the box closer to the sea... or leave the triplets where you found them if you feel like a bastard. It's no easy task, because you have to drag the box while walking, and every time a naga sees you and attacks, you lose control of the box (warning, some players can make use of this situation to steal your box and taking the reward for them), so its kinda difficult. When you reach the water, the box begins slowly to float and moves to deep sea. Your quest watcher automatically opens for the reward page and says that you wish them to survive as they are all the hope for surviving that is left for the Rockpool murlocs.

The trolls now get one of these from the beginning. Through out the starting zone quests, you are joined by a troll named Zuni, however during the fight against Zar'Jira, he is killed while trying to stamp out the braziers that fuel her power. To add insult to injury, after the battle it turns out that he can't be healed because his soul was ripped out

The quest chain started by "Welcome to the Machine" is rather fun for a while due to its nature. You escort an aptly named Rogue called Dumass out of a mine, and assist a vain Blood Elf named Johnny Awesome in avenging his fallen steed. Then you get to the level 80 Player Versus Environment orc, Kingslayer Orkus. His quest chain involves running through a gauntlet of dwarves and humans to get your hands on some Alliance plans. In order to get you out safely, he orders his Frost Wrym Kasha to fly you to safety while he holds off the guards. Kasha loops back to get him out of there ...only for him to die mid-flight, asking you to keep his trusted mount and friend safe. Both you and Orkus are named heroes of the Horde soon after Kasha lands.

The end of the Badlands quest chain, especially the text for the final quest reward.

At the end of the quest chains, you help purify a black dragon egg. When the egg hatches, it will be the first uncorrupted black dragon in ten thousand years, and so it's heavily hinted that the whelp that hatches will become the next Aspect of Earth to save and redeem what's left of the Black Dragonflight. This is desperately needed, considering the quest "The Last of Her Kind" in the Twilight Highlands has you kill one of the last female black dragons in existence. Obsidia targeted deliberately because she's a breeding female, meaning the player is essentially helping the red dragons commit genocide; another tearjerker in its own right for that very reason. However, even after Obsidia's death there was one female left alive, and speculation went that this female would become a broodmother after Deathwing's defeat to help rebuild the Flight. In 4.3, however, the egg hatches into Wrathion... who, even though he's pure and free of Old God corruption, reveals himself to be just as nasty as every other black dragon, and uses Rogue players to kill off the last of his corrupted brothers and sisters, including Nalice, the last adult female black dragon. Unless the female whelps and drakes survive to adulthood, Wrathion, the child who was supposed to become Black Aspect and save his Flight, just doomed them all to extinction.

There is still a chance for a silver lining. Wrathion states that to his knowledge, he is the last black dragon in Azeroth. Yet there are still the Black Dragons residing in the Blade's Edge Mountains, including Lord Sablemane, aka Sabellian. Whether Wrathion discovers this and plans to kill them all afterwards or not is all based entirely on him. And the third chapter in the Wrathion story for Mo P is called 'The Two Princes'; perhaps Sabellian might make an appearance?

It's also arguable whether or not the Black Dragonflight could even be saved at that point. Wrathion's assassination missions aren't exactly selfish ventures on his part: the dragons he sends you to kill are malicious and actively engaged in doing bad things. Wrathion (possibly Sabellian also) is pretty much the only black dragon who isn't like this. That includes all of the females. It's entirely possible that the only feasible way to have more uncorrupted black dragons (and thus sustain the flight) would be to purify eggs like Rheastrasza did, which still isn't necessarily impossible since there are probably still some surviving black dragon eggs in Twilight Highlands or elsewhere.

Even though many people hate him, Garrosh Hellscream is honestly one huge crowning moment of tearjerking if you think about it. He grew up thinking his father was a monster surrounded by other people who ALSO thought the same thing and likely looked at him as if he was going to snap any minute and murder them all perhaps a foreshadowing of him DOING EXACTLY THAT in Mists?. When Thrall came to Nagrand and told him the truth...just...Manly Tears, if you can get over hating him enough to actually see WHY he is the way he is. This doesn't give him an out for what he did to Theramore or what he triedto do to the Night Elves but it makes you think that MAYBE he's just trying to get other people to like him. He really just wants to make the Horde proud, but seems to think the Horde is still his father's bloodlusting demonic Horde.

Also, he has no surviving family members and his foster mother Geyah is dying. When Thrall came and started treating him like a child (Garrosh is actually OLDER!) this really got on his nerves since his father and Thrall were more like brothers than the father/son relationship Thrall seemed to want with Garrosh. Garrosh also never gets told favourably compared to his father, which is what he wants more than anything else in the world, except for after his victory in Northrend, and anyone who has played the game can tell you that it was mostly Saurfang who pulled that off.

Again, depending on whether you hate him or not, Thrall giving Garrosh his father's axe, Gorehowl can be a pretty epic Tear Jerker AND Moment of Awesome.

Magatha Grimtotem's entire family. She got pissed at her son after he murdered hundreds of people in Thunder Bluff... but not because he tried to commit genocide, it was because he wasn't discreet enough about it. It really makes you wonder what kind of horrible life and childhood he and the rest of the Grimtotems must have had under her.

The newly revamped Scarlet Monastary and Scholomance offer several:

First, Lilian Voss (an NPC from several quests in the Forsaken starting area) has players slaughter the Scarlet Crusade before she heads off to the Scholomance to kill the last remaining members of the Scourge. Before she can however she's mind-controlled by Darkmaster Gandling and forced to fight the players. She breaks free but then begs the player to let her die alone. Not to mention that the whole mind controlling process it's disturbingly similar to that of Mind Rape and probably rape of the other kind too, considering that Gandling does several unfortunate comments while he's at it.

Second, one of the bosses is so childish that she's surprised by how much dying hurts. Given the way she acted, it was likely she was a Psychopathic Man Child who didn't even realize the atrocities she was committing.

Lastly, the talking skull that gives you the quests to kill Darkmaster Gandling and burn all the books on necromancy in the Scholomance. It talks about how much his family has suffered because of Gandling so players naturally assume it's the skull of one of the Sarkhoffs who were tortured and killed. Once you complete the dungeon the skull is revealed to be the spirit of Alexei Barov, whose (almost) entire family, including himself, were bosses in the old Scholomance.

For the Scarlet Monastery we have the story of Sally Whitemane and Renault Mograine having evolved into an Alas, Poor Villain scenario. Mograine had been killed by his father's ghost as revenge for his betrayal and murder of him. Whitemane continues to be the final boss of Scarlet Monastery Cathedral, this time with Commander Durand to replace Mograine for gameplay purposes. But you really have to be a cold hearted bastard to not cringe at Whitemane's Famous Last Words after you defeat her this time:

Liam's death in the Worgen starting zone is jarring. In the heat of an epic battle against the Forsaken to retake Gilneas, Liem takes a poisoned arrow that Sylvanas intended for King Greymane instead. This has a profound impact on everyone for the closing chapter of the starting zone, particularlly when you attend his funeral.

The short "Dreadmaul Rock" quest chain in the Burning Steps. A troll asks you to check on his wife Sha'ni who was out on an investigation and hasn't reported back yet. You go to the area in question, and there's no sign of her... until you click on some bones lying on a stone platform. Sha'ni's ghost appears and explains that her platoon was captured by ogres. Everyone but her was executed - she was strapped to an alter by the leader and brutalized. She died an hour into the torture, at which point the ogre ripped off her wedding nose-ring as a trophy. Sha'ni can't rest until her husband knows her fate, so you find and kill the ogre leader and bring Sha'ni's wedding ring back to her husband:

Thal'trak: Did you find Sha'ni? Is she okay?

(Thal'trak collapses.)

Thal'trak: We were going to move to the Hinterlands. Did she tell you? This was going to be her last mission...

(You give him the ring. Thal'trak sobs.)

Thal'trak: I don't want it. Keep it, throw it away, I don't care! The ring means nothing to me now. Not without her...

One many players tend to miss due to taking shortcuts, but while on the way to the Ring of Honor to receive Garrosh's "gift", Ji is warned against tarrying in the Drag as "Garrosh doesn't take kindly to non-orcs being here". Ji is notably shocked that Garrosh segregates the city. It's even more notable compared to Aysa who's told that everyone in the Alliance works together.

The Elemental Bonds questline, where Thrall's essence is split and divided among each of the elemental planes, culminates in the Firelands, where Thrall's rage is embodied in a giant, flaming avatar screaming bloody murder for all the shit he's had to put up with throughout his life. But one line stands out, and Thrall belts it out in absolute, primal, grief-stricken anger...

Thrall: GARROSH... Garrosh... CAIRNE WAS MY BROTHER!!!!!!!

Kalecgos disbanding the Blue Dragonflight in Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War. Following the end of Cataclysm the blue dragons had grown depressed and more and more left their home at the Nexus daily. Eventually, with a little pushing from his friend Kirygosa, Kalec declares that their organization no longer exists and allows all the blue dragons to go off on their own. The last one to leave is Teralygos, an elder dragon who had resisted Kalec's position as Aspect. When he leaves, Kalec is left standing all alone atop the Nexus.

That reaction is likely intentional since Garrosh is the final boss of the expansion for the Alliance and the Horde.

Even worse is that The Lady Jaina Proudmoore, not only one of the nicest and most understanding people of anyone in the game, is also one of the few who has campaigned tirelessly for peace between the Alliance and the Horde. One has to wonder what this tragedy might do to affect that attitude.

She nearly follows in her father's footsteps in wanting to utterly destroy the Horde. Thankfully she is snapped out of it.

Hell, even her suggestion that Varian take Garrosh's defeat as an opportunity to dismantle the Horde once and for all. She even smirks when it looks as though Varian is about to go through with it. That, along with the venom in her voice, is shocking and sad to hear given how peaceful she used to be.

The Fountain of Youth quest chain. It starts with a night elf, obsessed with immortality so much, he ignored his daughter in search of the fountain of youth. He finally found it, only to discover it wasn't what he'd hoped it would be—the waters did not create life, but transferred it. As he aided the pandaren he began to regret his actions prior. But most tearjerking of all, his daughter (a sentinel) died fighting the leader of the mogu... and he used the waters of the fountain to give his life for her.

Suna Silentstrike's grief at finding her dead husband.

And then the part in which she descends into grief-fueled rage against the yaungol and her friend Ban, whom she blames for what happens. Eventually, she gets possessed by the Sha of Hatred and you have to kill her. As she lies dying of her wounds, she manages to bring herself to forgive Ban.

The Alliance cinematic at the start of the Pandaria quest line. Varian Wrynn listening to the last message from Admiral Taylor telling him that his son was safe the time of recording and not knowing if Anduin is still safe.

Leza Dawnchaser'sDeath by Childbirth. The accompanying cutscene is just heartbreaking. Casting Holy Light over and over in despair did nothing.

By the same vein as the above Master Shang Xi's death. You almost see it coming, but it doesn't really prepares you for it. The music accompanying the scene is truly memorable and helps tremendously to sell the moment to you. Ji's comments afterwards don't really help.

Seeing his ghost bow respectfully one last time as you leave the Wandering Isle pulls at the heartstrings too.

In Mists of Pandaria, after the Jade Serpent tells you that she's dying, ready to transfer her life force into the huge statue you've just retrieved the last of the jade they needed to finish to create a new guardian, as she flies you back to the Jade temple, saying she's tired and needs to rest... the Horde and Alliance start a battle at the foot of it. Despite being specifically shown what happens in Pandaria when someone acts aggressively, they do it anyway, and the statue that had been worked on for a hundred years is destroyed, and a huge sha (aggression given form and life) pops out of the ground and wrecks both armies. The Jade Serpent ferries you out of the zone, saying maybe it's best if you make yourself scarce for a while, and she'll have to hang onto life for a while longer.

It's even more of a tearjerker because it's also a Player Punch; you played a major role in the events that set up the disaster. All of the events; not only did you deliver the jade to the builders, only to see their great work undone, but you also helped arm the natives who joined your side, which led directly to the major battle at the base of the statue.

In the Dread Wastes, Chen Stormstout is searching for his distant relatives Evie, Han, and Mama. He finds Evie but she's already dead. What really makes it sad is the scene after you turn in the quest.

Chen Stormstout: I never knew you... but you were family.

And then, after Chen starts walking away, he turns around to comment that she looks just like Li Li, his niece.

The end of the Shieldwall quest line. Let's just say Varian Wrynn's Papa Wolf tendencies are about to come out with a vengeance.

Near the end of the Domination Offensive questline we get a big one. The Purge of Dalaran. Seeing all the blood elven civilians being imprisoned, having their facade finally broken down, and wondering what their future holds, is heartwrenching. Fridge Horror sinks in when you realize that Dalaran was not a military base, it was a city, and Aethas in no uncertain terms says the majority of the Sunreavers are still locked away in the Violet Hold. This means entire families, children included, are still imprisoned.

Lei Shi, the third boss in Terrace of Eternal Spring, is a friendly water spirit under the influence of the Sha of Fear. She begs you to leave her alone the entire time you're beating the tar out of her. In a sweet little kid voice. Trust us, Lei Shi, this hurts us more than it hurts you.

For any fan of the Horde who chafes under Garrosh's mad rule: Seeing Vol'jin lying there in Binan Village, suffering from a poison designed specifically to kill trolls. This is one of the faction leaders that has his head screwed on straight, who could fix our diplomatic problems, who should have been Warchief, and seeing him like that would fill any true soldier of the New Horde (not Garrosh's army of warmongering thugs) with anguish and rage.

There are many tragic moments to be found in the story of the Mogu's enslavement of the Pandaren. However, one particular scroll found on the Isle of Thunder describes what the Mogu's first emperor did to the Pandaren people, and it is absolutely heartbreaking:

The Pandaren Problem:Even in the ages before the old empire, there is evidence that the pandaren love of learning had created epic poems, agriculture, and medicine.The Thunder King saw great potential in the pandaren, and for this reason he did not trust them.After he conquered the land, the pandaren were forbidden to learn to read or write. Their leaders and philosophers were executed. All pandaren art and literature was burned. Anyone caught speaking anything but the mogu tongue was considered to be a conspirator, a charge often punished with death.All of the work of the earliest pandaren artists and writers has been lost forever. Ages later, other great pandaren scholars would be born... but the language they spoke was not truly their own.

Thrall asking Vol'jin to take care of his family right before going on a suicide mission into Orgrimmar to find other Orcs who oppose Garrosh's rule. Vol'jin is clearly not happy to hear this.

Vol'jin: For da Horde. Thrall: For the Horde.

For Horde players, having to kill General Nazgrim, an NPC you served alongside over the course of three different expansions, who doesn't follow Garrosh out of a belief in what he's doing, but out of a sense of honor and duty, and he's ultimately glad that you struck him down. The saddest thing about civil wars in factions is that often, people who genuinely like or respect each other end up on opposite sides.

Nazgrim: You have learned much, and learned well. An honorable battle, in the end. I stood by the Warchief because it was my duty, and I am glad it was you who struck me down. May your strength lead the Horde into a new era of prosperity.

Getting Gamon involved is also touching, as Nazgrim was one of the few Horde figures he respected, and he swears that he'll uphold his honorable ways.

With the release of 5.4 The Destruction of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms by Garrosh. Not only is one of the most beautiful places in Pandaria damaged almost beyond repair, but it gets worse when you consider that was where many of the refugees from places like the Jade Forest (much of which was damaged by the Sha of Doubt) and Kun-Lai Summit (attacked by the yaungol, who themselves were displaced as a result of mantid attacks and sha manipulation). Worst of all is when you have to fight some of the Golden Lotus questgivers (three attack you as main enemies, and six others join as adds), who are being trapped in eternal torment by the Sha, who are playing off their despair over their failure. Hearing Lorewalker Cho as he sees everything that's happened and tries to talk to the spirit of Rook Stonetoe is heartbreaking.

Just listen to Taran Zhu when you meet him—while, being Taran Zhu, his first few lines are basically a bitter "I told you so", he doesn't sound vindicated or even that angry—just defeated.

It gets worse. If your group takes too long to engage the overseer, he WILL behead Ji. Aysa then flies into a rage and attacks the overseer, promptly getting killed in the process.

While storming Orgrimmar, there are several trash mobs that aren't elite or Kor'kron. They're citizens of Orgrimmar and Theramore that have been threatened (the Theramore citizens mention their children being held hostage) into fighting any invaders.

There's also Orphan Matron Battlewail telling the frightened orphans to stay inside and behind her—worse, still, just before Overlord Run'thak orders some demolishers to fire on you, as well as the various NPC merchants and civilians who get easily slaughtered when you go into the auction house, bank and forge. This is a reminder that you're fighting through a capital city, and civilian casualties are essentially inevitable.

Old Hillpaw in the Valley of the Four Winds. When you first meet him, he's a cranky old chicken farmer who wishes to be left alone, but, like all the other important Halfhill Market NPC's, you do quests and give him gifts to increase your friendship. Then you find out why he's so bitter: his wife and son are dead. If you give him Braised Turtle he mentions that his wife used to make that dish and it brings back memories. If you give him a blue feather...

Old Hillpaw: ... My son, Tai...he used to collect these as a little boy. When his mother died, I told him they were messages from her, fallen from the heavens. <Old Hillpaw falls into a quiet silence.>

If you completed the Klaxxi storyline, you may have developed an odd camaraderie of sorts with the Paragons, even though they reveal at the end that they unashamedly worship an Old God. Still, the fight with them in Siege of Orgrimmar can be sad if you liked any of them, Kil'ruk's death quote in particular making you want to salute him.

Even after all he did, Garrosh Hellscream's death in Warlords of Draenor is nothing short of heartbreaking and Tear Jerking.

It's especially painful for those who played through the Horde's Nagrand quest chain in The Burning Crusade, since Thrall and the player helped him regain his confidence, so in a way, this whole thing was our fault...

Thrall might deny Garrosh's claim that he failed as Warchief and left Garrosh to pick up the pieces, or even that he made Garrosh what he became... but the player absolutely participated in "making" Garrosh.

Even someone as lost as Garrosh can prove his own turmoil. In the final duel against Thrall, after being told he failed the Horde, Garrosh pummels Thrall with his bare hands, ranting to Thrall thatheset Garrosh up to fail as Warchief. You can hear the sadness and rage in his voice as he beats on someone he once looked up to.

For Alliance players, the fate of Admiral Taylor in Warlords of Draenor. Thanks to the Shadow Council, the people in his garrison were killed off and turned into spirits, most of whom forgot what had happened to them, and you only just save his spirit from being made to serve the Shadow Council. In a bittersweet moment, he decides to make the best of his situation, and to join your garrison so he can fight alongside you, just like old times.

Taylor's death coming so close on the heels of Nazgrim's death is tragic. Both Horde and Alliance lose two heroes they journeyed throughout many quests and zones with, and the two aforementioned heroes who engaged in witty banter, battles to the death, and arguably a "if I can't kill you" bromance, die so close together in time to one another makes this sad indeed.

The fate of Nethergarde Keep in the Warlords of Draenor pre-patch. You find that the Iron Horde has taken over, and one quest involved retrieving items of some deceased non-player characters. Later on, you even meet the sister of one of those characters, and she is very upset about what happened.

Ner'zhul: I will save my clan, even if I must sacrifice the souls of my ancestors!

His mate Rulkan winds up pleading with the player to stop him, because she can't.

One exclusive to Horde players in Frostfire Ridge: coming across the Young Orc Traveller and/or the Young Orc Woman. Each can be looted for an item and a note suggesting where the other is, fleshing out the story. It's basically a Star-Crossed Lovers story in which the male was set upon and killed by wolves while the female froze to death waiting for him. Worse, combining the two items forms a pendant, "Talisman of Yearning Unfulfilled".

In Talador, there is a quest a draenei NPC gives to you to find portions of a potion that he hopes will revive his sister, who was just killed in a wagon crash that he survived as the two were on a pilgrimage. It doesn't work.

The penultimate garrison campaign for Alliance (A Strike at the Heart) involves an attack on the garrison in which The Bad Guy Wins and gets away with the artifact you retrieved last time, but that's not the really sad part. The sad part is that in the process, Baros Alexston, your garrison's architect, was killed protecting Lieutenant Thorn from Azuka Bladefury's blade. At the last, he finally confessed his love for Thorn (the two had a bad case of Cannot Spit It Out up to that point), handing over the rose he was planning to give her that very night as he died. After that event, Lieutenant Thorn is completely heartbroken, and stays in her worgen form (previously, you'd seen her human form only). Damn.

At first glance, Kaelynara Sunchaser seems like just another mana-addicted blood elf tampering with powers beyond her ken. But then you read her Tear-Stained Letter, in which her master annuls her apprenticeship in the cruelest and most arrogant manner possible. It makes most players change their opinion of her from "Power-hungry fool!" to "That poor girl..."

It gets worse. Astalor can be found at the Broken Front, charging up Blood Golems; despite this, there's no follow-up quest that allows you to settle the matter of Kaelynara's death with him.

After suffering so much defeat, Grom is visited again by Gul'dan who is attempting again to give the demon blood to the orcs. Gul'dan throws Grom's failure as Warchief in his face, and when Grom throws back that his men died with honor, Gul'dan chuckles and asks if that same was true for his son. Gul'dan tosses Gorehowl at Grom's feet, revealing Garrosh as Grom's son in the same breath that pronounced him dead. Grom looks utterly heartbroken as Gul'dan reinforces that he's lost everything and his only choice is to accept the Legion's gift. For a hardass like Grom to visibly show sadness, it really shows that the two Hellscreams were family and cared about one another. On top of this, Gul'dan turns Kilrogg to his side and gives him demon blood after pinning Grom to the wall, leaving Grom unable to do anything but watch while shouting his lieutenant's name in vain as Kilrogg drinks the blood from the cup and turns into a Fel Orc.

A blink and you miss it one in Talador. Five fel-spider cocoons contain Draenei who had been exploring the nearby mine who ask you to save the others and they'll reward you back at camp. One of them offhandedly notes getting a scratch from the spiders but shrugs it off as no big deal. When you return to the camp, there's only four of them, all mourning the fifth.

When you finally get to invade Tanaan Jungle and take the fight to Gul'dan personally, you've already seen Gul'dan tempting the Bleeding Hollow clan into becoming fel orcs and taking control of the Iron Horde personally. It's obvious that the orcs at this point really deserve the ass-whuppin' that you currently are delivering to them. But then, as you advance further into the jungles of Tanaan, you encounter a lone orc body. The name of the corpse is "Felsworn Deserter", and the seemingly young orc clutches a letter in his hand, which reads: "Dear Ma, I've decided to leave da Iron Horde army. Not enough grub, and I miss your cooking. Love, Your Son." Suddenly, all that motivation to lay down the smack on all those orcs just disappears.

Vindicator Maraad's death. He performs a Heroic Sacrifice to shield Yrel at the cost of his own life while they fight AU!Blackhand. And then there's his last words...

Maraad: In the Light... we are one.

Legion

Can we just put the entirety of Broken Shore and the aftermath of it here? Not since Arthas had us dead to rights atop Icecrown have we been beaten so soundly. We were hoping to close the portal, or the very leash establish a beachhead. Instead the assault turned into a complete rout with some of Azeroth's greatest heroes dying unceremonious deaths.

Tirion Fordring. Watching one of the best people on Azeroth be horribly killed and not being able to do anything stop it... even if you manage not to cry, you'll find yourself hating the words "You cannot attack that target", especially in connection to Gul'dan.

Vol'jin's death. He tries holding out against fel poison for as long as he is able to, despite it eating him up and visibly blackening his veins. His troll regeneration simply not able to prevent the life-consuming fel from killing him. He sits there, pathetic, weak, and barely able to speak, and his dying words are begging for Sylvanas to take the mantle as Warchief and ensure that the Horde survives. And Sylvanas herself is left in Stunned Silence while Vol'jin's body is carried out before speaking at his funeral pyre.

Massive credit is due to the machinima team at Blizzard for doing such a good job subtly but clearly showing Sylvanas realizing that she just achieved something she may once have wanted, in a way she really didn't want.

Varian's death. With the Horde retreating in the face of insurmountable forces, Varian is forced to call a retreat of his own, but the gunship the Alliance use to pull out is grabbed and held by a colossal Fel Reaver. Varian dangles from a ladder and Greymane reaches out a hand, only for Varian to give him the letter he was writing in the opening cinematic and tell Greymane to take it to his son. He then jumps from the ladder, taking down the Fel Reaver and letting his men escape, then killing several demons before being overwhelmed by a combination of exhaustion and their sheer numbers. And even then, faced with Gul'dan's gloating, he still defiantly answers "for the Alliance!" before being agonisingly burned to death by fel magic and his corpse reduced to nothing. In the distance, Greymane sees the explosion and howls a Big "NO!" at the loss of his comrade.

If you look in Durotar some way away Vol'jin's pyre, you can find Tyrathan Khort, the man Vol'jin befriended in Shadows of the Horde, watching the pyre from a distance. He will ask you not to call the guards, as he is there to honor a friend, not to cause any trouble. To make the tears worse, he mentions the pact he made with Vol'jin that whoever outlived the other would avenge their fallen friend, and then comments that he always thought Vol'jin would outlive him.

At many points in Val'sharah it is stated and seen that anyone can be corrupted by the Nightmare no matter how good they are, then you find Cenarius caught in such corruption and you try to save him you're too late, witnessed by Malfurion, his student and Ysera, the dragon who raised him as her son.

Then later, when trying to save Malfurion, who had rushed off after his mentor's corruption, Ysera becomes corrupted and Tyrande is forced to chose between saving her husband or the temple for her Goddess Elune. She choses her goddess, while making it clear that she did not make the choice lightly. Afterwards, she is forced to kill the corrupted Ysera - who may have regained her sanity while dying. The cinematic and music that plays is heartbreaking as Elune removes the corrupted spirit of the dragon, putting new stars in the sky in memorial, and you can see that Tyrande and the other night elf watchers are about to cry themselves. Tyrande especially seems to take it personally.

Attack on Exodar. Part way through/the end of the first Class Order campaign, Khadgar sends the adventurer to retrieve A lightbound relic that crashlands in the sea near Suramar. Dragging it back, the object contains a message from Turalyon requesting to be brought to the prophet. Khadgar sends you off to bring it to Velen, only to find the Exodar under attack by the legion, lead by a Man'ari Eredar High General Rakeesh. Fighting though, rescuing civilians and beating back the Legion, you finally get the attention of the Prophet Velen in order to deliver the lightbound object. Struck with shock and surprise, he explains that it is the sentience core of the Naaru prime Xe'ra and that the wisdom within is crucial to the Legion's defeat. Aside from merely exterminating the hated Draenei, the true purpose of the Legion's attack becomes clear. O'ros, the Naaru that dwells aboard the Exodar, is the last of Xe'ra's ancient line and the only one that can unlock her core. A final assault between your group, consisting of Velen, follows from your class, against Rakeesh. The injured naaru is quickly mended by the prophet, Before you can even act further Rakeesh calls down a Fel Annihilator while mockingly stating he has one last task before surrendering and facing judgement, killing the naaru, before turning his assault upon you. The battle joined and near the eredar's defeat Rakeesh decides to die through detonation of his annihilator which would destroy the Exodar and kill everyone aboard. Worse yet, Velen has a startling revelation. He had a son that supposedly died 13000 years before, but upon that child's birth the prophet had a vision of kneeling down before a dying battered warrior of an eredar, mourning his death. He did not understand now until his vision unfolded. Velen becomes so panicked and distraught by this while you and your followers try to kill Rakeesh before he destroys the Exodar, Velen actually turns on you demanding you stop attacking Rakeesh. Kneeling over Rakeesh's corpse, Velen talks about his family and that Kil'jaeden took them from him, and then you realize, that Kil'jaeden killed Velen's family 13000 years ago, took his son and raised him as a weapon to kill Velen as vengeance for his defiance. The bitterness, hate and despair in Velen's voice, followed by a terse dismissal that there is nothing more for you in the Exodar is nothing short of heartbreaking. Shortly thereafter, Velen states that he is "Prophet no more" and seeks Artificer Romuul, ordering him to repair the Exodar and prepare it for a trip to Argus.

Prophet Velen: Take Light's Heart and return to Khadgar. Tell him... Tell him that the Light died here this day.

Runas the Shamed is an amusing addled Nightfallen trying to make amends for his actions, until he reveals he was very close to being a Wretched, and moments before he transforms he thanks you for making his last few hours mean something. Unlike Senegos, the mana pool he was sitting in didn't help, and his voice acting is impeccable - you can feel his despair as, despite his willpower, he realizes he's failing to stop the inevitable... and then it transitions into melancholy, but heartfelt gratitude to you.

Runas the Shamed says: This hunger is consuming my very mind. It is taking every ounce of my energy to just... just...

Runas the Shamed says: Can you hear me, my friend?

Runas the Shamed says: I... I can not see you anymore.

Runas the Shamed says: I think... perhaps it is time to say goodbye, then.

In Stormheim, you encounter two friendly Highmountain tauren, who request that you kill some wolves that are making life difficult for them. Upon returning, you encounter two goblins instead, who ask you help them out, and that the tauren left; but don't worry, they've got a trade agreement with those two from Highmountain, they'll be back, and you'd be doing all of them a favor, even as you're sent halfway across the map to dangerous areas, to kill even more deadly things. The tauren are dead. The goblins are looting their belongings. And the corpses are lying in the shed somewhere - one of the goblins even comments that "they're starting to smell" at one point when you return. They're trying to kill you off with their "errands", and taking advantage of the time you're away to strip everything of value the two had worked for. And this is in what could be a starting zone. You can track them down and kill them at 110, granting a small amount of closure and justice for the tauren, but the fact that the title you get is "the Gullible" grinds more salt into the wound.

Also from Stormheim, the end of Genn and Sylvanas' fight. It's an awesome cinematic, especially with Genn thwarting Sylvanas' plan to enslave the val'kyr, but then you see Genn limping away and he truly does seem old. And there's something heartbreaking about how he says "you took my son's future". That and the And This Is for... at the start of the fight really show how much Genn values that Sylvanas has taken from him, and it's small wonder that he's willing to pursue revenge even in the face of the Legion's invasion.

A possible retroactive one from Liam Greymane's death in Cataclysm. Given that Genn managed to survive Sylvanas' poisoned arrow in the Stormheim finale, his son's Heroic Sacrifice in Gilneas was likely all for nothing. Yes, Genn needed medical attention afterwards, but Liam didn't even live long enough to get any.

A world quest involves partying with a group of vrykul, who may attack you in a drunken stupor. One, Elyssa the Flower, drops the vendor item Twin Poppies, a gift from her twin children before she left home.

In Suramar City, there's an entire district of Nightborne whose supplies of arcwine have been so severely reduced that they're at risk of withering. A quest to share some with the most desperate elves shows that many of them have been refusing to drink it so their loved ones can have enough. The reason they don't have enough arcwine? They spoke out against allying with the Burning Legion.

Even in the "loyalist" areas, there's the occasional starving Nightborne who begs players for a few drops of arcwine. If you share some ancient mana with them, they thank you profusely and you earn a buff called "Empathy".

Alliance players can find a small trinket in the sea near the Broken Shore that turns out to be Varian's compass. When you start a quest chain by returning it to Anduin, he mentions having given to his father for his birthday a few years ago, and that since his father's death he hasn't had a single opportunity to actually mourn. This throws Anduin into a depression, with no-one having any luck in consoling him until the player character comes to persuade him to return to his duties.

The entire quest chain is one. From Anduin mentioning not having had any time to mourn his father, to praying to know if his father's spirit is at peace, to feeling unworthy and unable to bear the responsibility of his crown. Anduin also laments that he has been sheltered from the atrocities taking place by great men like Bolvar and Tirion throughout his entire life, and this continues while countless brave heroes and soldiers die in his name. He acknowledges that his people like and respect him, but knows they do not believe in him as they believed in his father, something he accepts is completely justified given his father's accomplishments and strength. Overhearing Greymane's comments that he needs to toughen up and understand what sacrifices are being made, he completely agrees, showing self-awareness of his limitations and naivety.

The quest chain culminates in Anduin heading to the Broken Shore to see first-hand the evil taking place. Visiting the exact spot where his father fell, Anduin breaks down in grief, both at his father's death and not having had time to mourn, and feeling he lacks the strength to be the hero and king his father was. For all his earlier and justified criticisms, Greymane himself consoles Anduin over his father's heroism and sacrifice, explaining that Varian's valiant actions and defiance were a message of inspiration to his people in the face of an overwhelming enemy.

Anduin himself finds Shalamayne in the ashes where his father died, and experiences a vision of Varian urging him to live up to his kingly responsibilities. Filled with newfound resolve, Shalamayne starts glowing with holy light in Anduin's hands...

Despite his criticism of Anduin, Greymane actually tries to stop him walking to where Varian died, sadly saying "My boy, you don't need to see this.", and then gently explains Varian's Heroic Sacrifice to him. After all, despite his more cynical views, Greymane knows well what it's like to lose a close family member.

In the Rogue mount quest, you have to assassinate marks hidden within enemy capital cities that are actually homunculi, incredibly lifelike undead in disguise. The last mark for Horde characters is in Stormwind: Auctioneer Jaxon, an NPC who has been around since Vanilla. Given the Legion's brutality, it isn't too hard to figure out the fate of the real Auctioneer Jaxon. She was married to Officer Jaxon and they had a son, Xander. Even more heartbreaking, Xander brings her coffee every hour - yet he isn't aware that his mother is most likely dead and that he is serving coffee to something posing as her, not to mention what his reaction would be to "her" assassination.

A bonus scenario added in patch 7.3.5., involving the spirit of a little draenei girl called Uuna, who was sacrificed by the Burning Legion along many of her breathren to create the Many-Faced Devourer.

In the Legion Epilogue, Khadgar undergoes a Despair Event Horizon seeing that all of it was for nothing, as the Alliance and Horde are still fighting, he goes off on his own, unable to handle it after all he did to fight the Legion.

Memorials

There is a Tauren character in Bloodhoof Village in Mulgore named Ahab Wheathoof who asks you to find his dog. Cue tearjerk, as Ahab Wheathoof was designed and voiced by Ezra 'Ephoenix' Chatterton, a 10 year old boy with a brain tumor (whose story is pretty tearjerkery itself.) Ezra died a little while after the visit to Blizzard studios. Further tearjerker, as in December of 2009, Blizzard began to sell non-combat in-game pets, and for one of their first - a Pandaren Monk - they donated half the money they received to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. $1.1 million was donated through this.

Every year, when the Lunar Festival comes around, there is an event called "To Honor One's Elders" which involves visiting spirits scattered throughout the lands to gain tokens from them. Last year, Blizzard changed the name of the Elder in Thunder Bluff to Ezra Wheathoof. Next to him is a phoenix pet. Ezra's character's name on World of Warcaft had been "Ephoenix". Dangit, Blizz... where's my tissues.... *sniff*

In the Barrens, there is the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior, dedicated to Michael Koiter - one of the two artists who made up 'Twincruiser' - who died during the World of Warcraft production.

The same artist gets another in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. In the penultimate cutscene, when Raynor returns to the war-ravaged front lines to give his final Rousing Speech, he takes "M. Koiter"'s dogtags from a dead Marine. At the end of the speech he holds them high, asking his soldiers to fight on - "because some things are worth fighting for".

Miscellaneous

The moment when a lot of players realized that even the Titans, the closest thing to Benevolent Precursors that the Warcraft universe was thought to have, are far more inscrutible; Algalon the Observer's massiveFreak Out! when he realizes that the (several million million) beings that he destroyed via Reorigination at the behest of the Titans were people with free will and emotions instead of the mindlessly obedient automatons he thought they were.

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